What's for Dinner #44 - 04/2019 - the April Flowers but no Showers Edition

I recently found what looks to be a complete set. The owner had neatly cut blank cards to the same size and made her notes in very prcise cursive. She noted recipe changes, menus and which family member favored which dish. I think there is one card with a faint stain . Looking through the box and reading her notes it’s apparent that she put much care and thought into her family meal planning. It saddens me that no one in her family wanted the recipe box.

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So much to catch up on, will try to post meals from last 2 weeks over the next couple days. Most importantly, however…

A houseguest gifted us an ice cream maker two weeks ago, along with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream recipe book, and 2 insulated freezer containers. If you aren’t afraid of raw eggs, and as long as the freezer bowl has been freezing for 24 hours, you can quickly whip up a batch of ice cream with most of the Ben & Jerry’s recipes. The texture is between homemade Philadelphia-style and the cooked custard-style bases, which is exactly the texture I prefer for ice cream. We’ve made 10 batches of 5 flavors already. (For matcha, I did have to use hot milk and then chill before churning. Also, pasteurizing whole eggs at home is a pain, unless you have sous vide.)

The difference between this machine and my old ice/rock salt machine is night and day. I can never go back. In fact, I’ve used the built-in compressor machines before and this freezer bowl style may produce superior ice cream to those.

Even though some nights I would eat only ice cream for dinner, it was still really bad for my waistline. (We just stepped on the scale yesterday and I immediately pulled the freezer bowl out of the freezer.) My favorites were cantaloupe and maple pecan, both pictured below. Anyway, I was really excited and just wanted to share with you all. If, like me, you were using 10 egg yolks to get decent ice cream from your old-fashioned machine, just upgrade. It’s worth it, even if you have to buy another freezer bowl to do back-to-back batches.

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An Italian influence tonight…

Red Gravy fortified with Sweet Italian Sausage.

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Leftovers, this time with garlic spinach. The pea shoots were much, much better, and I plan to go back for more from the shop.

These thunder thighs were huge - I saved half!

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Thoughtful gift!

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Glad you’re starting to adjust to the low sodium restrictions- those veggies look fantastic!

So your friends know you well - a well thought out gift!

Cracking up over here :joy:

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Back to making my own meals that are much less glamorous…! I was beyond exhausted yesterday, lots of sleeping happened. Just had the last of the freezer stash of that tasty lentil coconut curry soup from a while back.
Found some gorgeous asparagus today and just steamed it and added some jane’s crazy mixed up salt. I cut the stalks because i cook the bottom half a few minutes longer than the top half

And some of those hippie vegan tofu veggie “shanghai dumplings” that i dipped in a soy/sesame oil/rice wine vinegar mix

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Tonight I roasted a pan of sliced onion, zucchini, carrots and purple grapes. Served with smoked turkey (defrosted, left from Thanksgiving) and a multi grain blend. I ate all of the roasted vegies/fruit except some of the onion which will be transformed eventually. Roasted fruit is so nice with smoked meats!

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Made the black beans again that I loved so much last week. Accompanied by mixed quinoa and steamed broccoli with chile lime salt.

Love when I stumble upon a new favorite that’s easy!

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Yumz

I’m obsessed with theses. They’re “pricey” but fresh in Chinatown (5.99#, it’s all relative :joy:). Yesterday I was looking at seeds with the sole purpose of growing the leaves :rofl:

When you get more, try a green salad with them - that’s what set me off.

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Actually, just friend (singular.) He’s the only real life food buddy we have. (But even he can get food exhausted after a few days with us, haha.) The thing that made this the absolute best gift was that he has the exact same ice cream machine, recipe book, and insulated containers. So there was no learning curve. He right away told us everything he had tried, what worked, what didn’t, what could have been user error, what were the design flaws, etc. Literally, the day after we got the machine we were churning ice cream.

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That’s lovely! Out of curiosity, which machine is it?

Cuisinart ICE-70.

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Had continuing education all weekend. So kept it simple when having family over for dinner Sunday. Picked up pizza from my wife’s favorite pizzeria and I made a caprese salad and Texas caviar

The Texas caviar was my lunch yesterday

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we were going out later for drinks, i would have fallen asleep if i had wine with dinner too…

my sister made hers last for three meals! i did eat my whole Reuben, though…
:thinking:

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I love roasted and grilled fruits…they add so much to savory main or appetizer or side or salad dishes, and for desserts as well. Especially good with cheeses. Grapes on homemade flatbreads, pizzas, fougasse bread, fantastic!

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Hah, you sure about that PSTOB? Not sure I can tell under the PSTOSC (sour cream)

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